Leveling rod and target



April 2, 1968 c. c. SEELEY LEVELING ROD AND TARGET Filed Jan. 26, 1966 IN VENIDB mamas C. SEEL f) ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,375,587 LEVELING ROD AND TARGET Charles C. Seeley, 11308 Engleside Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48205 Filed Jan. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 523,087 3 Claims. (Cl. 33-74) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A leveling rod formed on one side with grooves extending substantially transversely thereof, and a target formed with a pair of spaced parallel ribs to afford the application or removal of the target to the leveling rod at any desired position longitudinally of said rod, a latch carried by said target and pivotal thereon to engage in said grooves and maintain the target in any desired position afforded by said grooves.

This invention relates to leveling rods and targets, and particularly to targets designed for rapid, easy removable application to a rod.

In prior practice, targets have been so constructed that they must be mounted onto the rods from an end of such rod, and then slid longitudinally of the rod to a desired position. Frequently thumb screws, or the like, are used to frictionally engage the rod to resist dislodgement from such positions.

It has been found that persons using these leveling rods and masts tend to throw the assembled device into vehicles for transportation without taking time to slide the targets off the masts. Consequently the targets are rapidly marred and damaged, and must frequently be replaced.

An object of this invention is to provide a target which may be quickly and easily applied to and removed from a leveling rod at any desired position on such a rod, and to provide means to releasably interconnect said target and rod to resist dislodgement of the target.

Another object is to apply graduations to such rod in the form of contours, such as recesses or grooves, and to provide a latch means upon the target to engage said contours to retain the target in position.

Still another object is to provide on said target, spaced, approximately parallel ribs to receive and engage a portion of the rod between them at any desired position longitudinally of the rod.

These and various other objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a horizontal, sectional view on line 1-1 of FIG. 2, showing the latch in open position in dash lines.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a partial side elevational view on line 44 of FIG. 2.

In these views the reference character 1 designates a leveling rod having a rear face formed with grooves 2. Said grooves are predeterminedly spaced, and a numeral, such as numeral 4, indicating the height of each groove, may be applied to the front face of the rod, as seen in FIG. 1.

3,375,587 Patented Apr. 2, 1968 A target 3 is rearwardly formed with substantially parallel ribs 4. No rear wall interconnects said ribs, so that the target may be slipped onto the rod at any desired height. As may be seen in drawings, a clevis 5 is formed adjacent to one rib, and a pivot 6 pivotally mounts a latch element 7 in the clevis. When the target is applied to the rod at a desired height, the latch 7 is swung about the axis of pivot element 6 to engage in a groove 2. A spring catch 8 engages the end portion of the latch to releasably retain said latch in position. A rectangular opening 9 in the target, enables a user of the device to read said numerals.

The device may be so constructed that the frictional grasp of the ribs 4 will resist undesired sliding travel of the target on the rod. However, to afford a positive resistance to such travel, or to resist dislodgement of the target from the rod, the aforesaid latch is provided.

The target 3 has a marginal portion bent to form a flange 10 having a key 11. Slidable along said flange is a pointer 12, having an end portion 13 terminally formed with a keyway 14 to be slidably received on the key 11.

.A thumbscrew 15 may be employed to bear upon said flange 10 to resist movement of the pointer when it has been slid to indicate a desired marking 16.

It is believed that the invention resides in the provision of spaced ribs 4, for easy application of target to rod, and the latch 7 to cooperate with the grooves 2, to retain the target in its mounted position.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a leveling rod having predeterminedly spaced grooves formed therein,

a target having a visible face with indicia applied to said face and spaced, approximately parallel ribs, said rod being received between and frictionally engaged by said ribs to resist undesired travel of said target longitudinally of said rod,

a latch pivotally mounted on the target and releasably engageable in said grooves to removably secure the target to the rod, and to afford positive resistance to said travel, and

a spring-tensioned catch to releasably retain the latch in engagement in a groove.

2. In a combination as set forth in claim 1,

said target being formed at said marginal edge portion with a flange, a pointer having an end portion adapted to be slidably received on said flange, and a thumb screw, threadedly received in said end portion to releasably engage an end face against said flange to resist undesired dislodgement of the pointer from a desired position.

3. In a combination as set forth in claim 2,

said target being apertured to afford visibility through the aperture of any indicia applied to the rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,563,400 8/1951 Duduit 3374 2,617,199 11/1952 Samotey 33170" 2,695,455 11/1954 Zweekly et al. 33170 HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner. 

